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WO2000020885A1 - Systeme d'imagerie de diagnostic par ultrasons a mise en composition spatiale a correction du flou - Google Patents

Systeme d'imagerie de diagnostic par ultrasons a mise en composition spatiale a correction du flou Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2000020885A1
WO2000020885A1 PCT/EP1999/007474 EP9907474W WO0020885A1 WO 2000020885 A1 WO2000020885 A1 WO 2000020885A1 EP 9907474 W EP9907474 W EP 9907474W WO 0020885 A1 WO0020885 A1 WO 0020885A1
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Prior art keywords
image
images
imaging system
ultrasonic diagnostic
diagnostic imaging
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PCT/EP1999/007474
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English (en)
Inventor
James R. Jago
Robert R. Entrekin
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Koninklijke Philips NV
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Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV
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Priority to JP2000574950A priority Critical patent/JP2002526225A/ja
Priority to EP99952524A priority patent/EP1046062A1/fr
Publication of WO2000020885A1 publication Critical patent/WO2000020885A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52085—Details related to the ultrasound signal acquisition, e.g. scan sequences
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S15/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. sonar systems
    • G01S15/88—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G01S15/89—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
    • G01S15/8906—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques
    • G01S15/8909—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration
    • G01S15/8913—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques using a static transducer configuration using separate transducers for transmission and reception
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S15/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. sonar systems
    • G01S15/88—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G01S15/89—Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
    • G01S15/8906—Short-range imaging systems; Acoustic microscope systems using pulse-echo techniques
    • G01S15/8995—Combining images from different aspect angles, e.g. spatial compounding
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52023—Details of receivers
    • G01S7/52025—Details of receivers for pulse systems
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52023—Details of receivers
    • G01S7/52034—Data rate converters
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/5205—Means for monitoring or calibrating
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52053—Display arrangements
    • G01S7/52057—Cathode ray tube displays
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52053—Display arrangements
    • G01S7/52057—Cathode ray tube displays
    • G01S7/5206—Two-dimensional coordinated display of distance and direction; B-scan display
    • G01S7/52065—Compound scan display, e.g. panoramic imaging
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52023—Details of receivers
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52023—Details of receivers
    • G01S7/52036—Details of receivers using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation
    • G01S7/52038—Details of receivers using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation involving non-linear properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52053—Display arrangements
    • G01S7/52057—Cathode ray tube displays
    • G01S7/5206—Two-dimensional coordinated display of distance and direction; B-scan display

Definitions

  • Spatial compounding is an imaging technique in which a number of ultrasound images of a given target that have been obtained from multiple vantage points or angles are combined into a single compounded image by combining the data received from each point in the compound image target which has been received from each angle. Examples of spatial compounding may be found in US Patents 4649927; 4319489; and 4159462.
  • Real time spatial compound imaging is performed by rapidly acquiring a series of partially overlapping component image frames from substantially independent spatial directions, utilizing an array transducer to implement electronic beam steering and/or electronic translation of the component frames.
  • the component frames are combined into a compound image by summation, averaging, peak detection, or other combinational means.
  • the acquisition sequence and formation of compound images are repeated continuously at a rate limited by the acquisition frame rate, that is, the time required to acquire the full complement of scanlines over the selected width and depth of imaging.
  • the compounded image typically shows lower speckle and better specular reflector delineation than conventional ultrasound images from a single viewpoint.
  • Speckle is reduced (i.e. speckle signal to noise ratio is improved) by the square root of N in a compound image with N component frames, provided that the component frames used to create the compound image are substantially independent and are averaged.
  • Several criteria can be used to determine the degree of independence of the component frames (see, e.g., O'Donnell et al. in IEEE Trans. UFFC v.35, no.4, pp 470-76 (1988').
  • the second way that spatial compound scanning improves image quality is by improving the acquisition of specular interfaces.
  • a curved bone-soft tissue interface produces a strong echo when the ultrasound beam is exactly perpendicular to the interface, and a very weak echo when the beam is only a few degrees off perpendicular.
  • These interfaces are often curved, and with conventional scanning only a small portion of the interface is visible.
  • Spatial compound scanning acquires views of the interface from many different angles, making the curved interface visible and continuous over a larger field of view. Greater angular diversity generally improves the continuity of specular targets.
  • the angular diversity available is limited by the acceptance angle of the transducer array elements. The acceptance angle depends on the transducer array element pitch, frequency, and construction methods.
  • One of the problems associated with real time spatial compound imaging is that several image acquisitions are needed to produce each new compound image frame.
  • the time needed to acquire a spatial compound image consisting of N component frames is approximately N times longer than that of each individual component frame. It is generally desirable to acquire a large number of component frames to maximize the image quality of the compound image.
  • the compounds to be compounded are acquired temporally, the compounding of the images can produce a blurred resultant image.
  • Image blurring occurs in real time spatial compound imaging because common features in the acquired component frames do not superimpose exactly when compounded. Misregistration between acquisition frames can occur for a number of reasons, such as:
  • features can shift position within the image plane due to scanhead and/or patient movement during acquisition (in-plane motion misregistration). This kind of misregistration can be global (translation and/or rotation of entire image) or local (image distortion due to cardiac or respiratory motion, or compression of the tissue with the scanhead).
  • features can shift position due to an incorrect assumption regarding the speed of sound, causing the features to be rendered with axial and angular misregistration (SOS misregistration). This kind of misregistration can be due to an incorrect mean speed of sound or variations in local speed of sound within different tissue types. Accordingly, it is desirable to prevent blurring from causes such as these when compounding images for real time display.
  • image registration is meant here as a general term to describe any process which estimates global and/or local displacement information between two images, and warps one (or both) images to make them congruent with each other.
  • a number of techniques may be used to estimate the displacement, including cross correlation search, block matching algorithms, maximum brightness, and feature extraction and tracking. Warping algorithms may be first order, global transformations
  • the component frames are registered to each other prior to compounding, improving image quality.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates in block diagram form an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention
  • Fig. 2 illustrates in block diagram form a preferred implementation of the spatial compounding processor of Fig. 1 ;
  • Fig. 3 illustrates a flowchart for registering all of the constituent frames of a compound image to one reference frame
  • Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart for pyramid registration of the constituent frames of a compound image
  • Fig 5 illustrates a flowchart for the successive registration and compounding of the constituent frames of a compound image
  • Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart for pyramidal registration of non-sequential image frames to form a compound image
  • Fig. 7 illustrates a flowchart for the successive registration and compounding of new component frames in conjunction with the removal of old component frames from the compound image
  • FIG. 8 illustrates the use of reference lines for image registration.
  • a scanhead 10 including an array transducer 12 transmits beams at different angles over an image field denoted by the dashed rectangle and parallelograms.
  • Three groups of scanlines are indicated in the drawing, labeled A, B, and C with each group being steered at a different angle relative to the scanhead.
  • the transmission of the beams is controlled by a transmitter 14 which controls the phasing and time of actuation of each of the elements of the array transducer so as to transmit each beam from a predetermined origin along the array and at a predetermined angle.
  • the echoes returned from along each scanline are received by the elements of the array, digitized as by analog to digital conversion, and coupled to a digital beamformer 16.
  • the digital beamformer delays and sums the echoes from the array elements to form a sequence of focused, coherent digital echo samples along each scanline.
  • the transmitter 14 and beamformer 16 are operated under control of a system controller 18, which in turn is responsive to the settings of controls on a user interface 20 operated by the user of the ultrasound system.
  • the system controller controls the transmitter to transmit the desired number of scanline groups at the desired angles, transmit energies and frequencies.
  • the system controller also controls the digital beamformer to properly delay and combine the received echo signals for the apertures and image depths used.
  • the scanline echo signals are filtered by a programmable digital filter 22, which defines the band of frequencies of interest.
  • a programmable digital filter 22 defines the band of frequencies of interest.
  • the passband of the filter 22 is set to pass harmonics of the transmit band.
  • the filtered signals are then detected by a detector 24.
  • the filter and detector include multiple filters and detectors so that the received signals may be separated into multiple passbands, individually detected and recombined to reduce image speckle by frequency compounding.
  • the detector 24 will perform amplitude detection of the echo signal envelope.
  • Doppler imaging ensembles of echoes are assembled for each point in the image and are Doppler processed to estimate the Doppler shift or Doppler power intensity.
  • the digital echo signals are processed by spatial compounding in a processor 30.
  • the digital echo signals are initially pre-processed by a preprocessor 32.
  • the pre-processor 32 can preweight the signal sixteen frames.
  • the digital signal processors are responsive to control parameters including image display depth, depth of region of greatest compounding, clinical application, compound display rate, mode of operation, and acquisition rate for determining the number of images to compound at a given instant in time.
  • the digital signal processors select component frames stored in the frame memories 62 for assembly as a compound image in accumulator memory 64.
  • the compounded image formed in the accumulator memory 64 is weighted or mapped by a normalization circuit 66, then compressed to the desired number of display bits and, if desired, remapped by a lookup table (LUT) 68.
  • the fully processed compounded image is then transmitted to the scan converter for formatting and display.
  • the image data of the component frames used to form a compound image is resampled to spatially register the component frames prior to compounding, thereby improving image quality by reducing blurring effects of overlapping unregistered image data.
  • the resampling and registration of component image frames is performed by the programming of the digital signal processors 60, which operate upon component images stored in the frame memories 62.
  • the final registered and compounded image is then stored in the accumulator memory 64.
  • Prior art techniques have used image registration methods for estimating intrinsic tissue properties, such as speed of sound or elasticity, as diagnostic parameters (e.g., Robinson et. al. in Ult. in Med.
  • Fig. 3 illustrates one embodiment, the "reference frame” method, as applied to a four frame acquisition sequence.
  • the four constituent frames for compounding are shown as A, B, C, and D in temporal sequence in Fig. 3.
  • One of the component frames (A) is designated as the "reference frame,” and as subsequent frames (B,C,D) are acquired, they are warped so that their features are congruent with corresponding features of frame A.
  • the aligned frames are compounded.
  • the process is repeated with each new acquisition sequence (E.F,G,H with E designated as the new reference frame).
  • the reference frame can be updated with each new acquisition frame (B, C, D, E with B as the samples if desired with a weighting factor.
  • the samples can be preweighted with a weighting factor that is a function of the number of component frames used to form a particular compound image.
  • the pre -processor can also weight edge lines that are at the edge of one overlapping image so as to smooth the transitions where the number of samples or images which are compounded changes.
  • the pre-processed signal samples may then undergo a resampling in a resampler 34.
  • the resampler 34 can spatially realign the estimates of one component frame or to the pixels of the display space. This may be desirable when there is motion between image frames, there is motion within an image, or there is scanhead motion during image acquisition. After resampling the image frames are compounded by a combiner 36.
  • Combining may comprise summation, averaging, peak detection, or other combinational means.
  • the samples being combined may also be weighted prior to combining in this step of the process.
  • post-processing is performed by a post-processor 38.
  • the post-processor normalizes the combined values to a display range of values. Post-processing can be most easily implemented by look-up tables and can simultaneously perform compression and mapping of the range of compounded values to a range of values suitable for display of the compounded image.
  • the compounding process may be performed in estimate data space or in display pixel space.
  • scan conversion is done following the compounding process by a scan converter 40.
  • the compound images may be stored in a
  • Cineloop® memory 42 in either estimate or display pixel form. If stored in estimate form the images may be scan converted when replayed from the Cineloop memory for display.
  • the scan converter and Cineloop memory may also be used to render three dimensional presentations of the spatially compounded images as described in U.S. Patents 5,485,842 and 5,860,924. Following scan conversion the spatially compounded images are processed for display by a video processor 44 and displayed on an image display 50.
  • Fig. 2 illustrates a preferred implementation of the spatial compounding processor 30 of Fig. 1.
  • the processor 30 is preferably implemented by one or more digital signal processors 60 which process the image data in various ways.
  • the digital signal processors 60 can weight the received image data and can resample the image data to spatially align pixels from frame to frame, for instance.
  • the digital signal processors 60 direct the processed image frames to a plurality of frame memories 62 which buffer the individual image frames.
  • the number of image frames capable of being stored by the frame memories 62 is preferably at least equal to the maximum number of image frames to be compounded such as reference frame; C,D,E,F with C as the reference frame; etc.) Any one of the frames of each four frame sequence may de designated as the reference frame.
  • Fig. 4 illustrates a second embodiment in which pairs of images are registered and compounded, followed by a second step of registration and compounding of the previously registered and compounded pairs, termed herein as the "pyramid" method.
  • Fig. 4 illustrates the pyramid technique for four component images A, B, C, and D.
  • the first step of the method the A and B frames are registered and compounded, then the C and D frames are registered and compounded.
  • These intermediate compounded images, identified as U and V are then registered and compounded to form the final compound image. If only partial correction of the misregistration error is acceptable (or if conditions exist where registration of all component frames may be unreliable), then the first registration step can be omitted, gaining a substantial reduction in computational requirements.
  • temporally adjacent images A and B are compounded, as are temporally adjacent images C and D.
  • the resulting two intermediate compounded images, U and V, are then registered and compounded.
  • Another alternative is to register frames A and B and then frames C and D, compound the registered frame pairs, then omit the last registration step and simply compound the intermediate U and V images to form the final compound image.
  • Fig. 7 illustrates a further aspect of the present invention which is that, while the A,C,B,D frame sequence in this drawing is temporally sequential, the temporally adjacent frames are not spatially adjacent. That is, the look direction of frame C is not the angularly similar look direction of frame B, but is at a significantly different look direction from that of frame A, the frame with which it is initially compounded. The same is true of the B and D frame pair. This will result in the best possible intermediate compounded images U and V, since the temporal adjacency will reduce motion artifacts while the more greatly divergent look directions will reduce the anisotropy in the compounded image.
  • Fig. 5 shows yet another embodiment where the compound image is accumulated frame by frame with successive registration and compounding steps.
  • images A and B are registered and compounded to form a first intermediate compound image B'.
  • Image B' is then registered and compounded with image C to form a further intermediate compound image C ⁇
  • Image C is then registered and compounded with a further image D to form the final compound image.
  • Fig. 6 illustrates yet another embodiment in which the registration transforms undergone by each component frame are tracked and stored, and used to completely remove the component frame when the compounded image is updated with a current component frame.
  • the transform U necessary to register the estimates of frame A to those of frame B is computed and used to perform the registration of frame A to frame B, thus producing a two-frame compounded image B+A u .
  • the transform V which registers the compounded image B+A u to frame C is computed and used to perform the registration, thereby producing a three-frame compounded image C+B v +A uv . Note that frame A has now been processed by transforms U and V.
  • a three-frame compounded image is the desired result, which means that as the next frame D is registered and combined with the compounded image, the initial frame A is removed from the combination.
  • acoustic shadows can cause image artifacts called "acoustic shadows". These shadows are cast in a direction that depends on the angle of incidence of the ultrasound beam.
  • a spatial compound image comprising component frames of different angles of incidence to the same target will contain acoustic shadows in different locations, reducing the correlation between the component frames.
  • the apparent decorrelation due to acoustic shadowing cannot be corrected by image registration methods, since registration of the shadows would cause misregistration of the real anatomy.
  • anisotropic reflectors such as tendons, bony surfaces, and the walls of blood vessels reflect ultrasound in a specular, mirror-like manner, producing artifacts called "highlight echoes.”
  • Highlight echoes shift position depending on the angle of insonification, creating decorrelation and/or apparent misregistration between component frames.
  • it is generally desirable to acquire spatially diverse views of such specular targets so that they appear more continuous in the compound image the resulting decorrelation and or misregistration due to highlight artifacts can confound image registration methods and produce inaccurate registration results.
  • unresolved scatterers within tissue often produce a "texture pattern" superimposed on the ultrasound image.
  • the methods for registration prior to compounding do not all perform equivalently.
  • the reference frame method shown in Fig. 3 may fail to perform reliably if the component frames are acquired from substantially different directions.
  • the resulting artifacts from shadowing or specular reflectors may prevent accurate registration prior to compounding.
  • the pyramid method shown in Fig. 4 may perform better by registering spatially adjacent frames (with higher correlation) prior to compounding, followed by registration of the intermediate compound images.
  • spatial compounding tends to improve the quality of the intermediate compound image by both filling-in specular reflectors more completely and reducing speckle. This potentially improves the quality of registration of the intermediate compound images prior to combining them into a final registered, compound image.
  • elevation motion decorrelation Another significant source of frame to frame decorrelation is due to motion of the scanhead in the direction perpendicular to the image plane (elevation motion decorrelation).
  • the probe When the clinical operator is searching for abnormalities (i.e. in a "survey mode") the probe is typically moved fairly rapidly in the elevation direction in order to view as much tissue as possible as quickly as possible.
  • the result of elevation motion decorrelation is that temporally sequential component frames become increasingly decorrelated as structures move out of the scan plan and their corresponding image features disappear.
  • the reference frame method shown in Fig. 3 may fail to perform reliably because elevation motion decorrelation over the entire acquisition sequence may prevent accurate registration prior to compounding.
  • the pyramid method shown in Fig. 4 may perform better by registering temporally adjacent frames (with higher correlation) prior to compounding, followed by registration of the intermediate compound images.
  • a preferred technique for sensing misregistration is to acquire a small number of "calibration" lines interspersed between each component frame.
  • the ROI defined by these calibration lines is preferably viewed from a constant look direction and is used for misregistration sensing using SAD or other algorithms.
  • the calibration or reference lines acquired between component frames are used to compute SAD or otherwise to measure the degree of misregistration that has occurred during the time required to acquire a component frame.
  • the calibration lines need not be at a regular line density or uniform angularity, but may be widely spaced and/or scattered across the image plane, and may be differently angled. A sparsely sampled frame will perform admirably. Although the additional lines will lower the overall frame rate, the temporal degradation need not be very great due to the low number of reference lines and, in any case, an adaptive approach can still give the user the sense of a satisfactorily high frame rate.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Ultra Sonic Daignosis Equipment (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Velocity Or Position Using Acoustic Or Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)
  • Image Processing (AREA)
  • Transforming Light Signals Into Electric Signals (AREA)
  • Closed-Circuit Television Systems (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système d'imagerie de diagnostic par ultrasons où les images ultrasonores constitutives destinées à être spatialement composées sont corrigées afin d'éliminer tout défaut de calage avant la mise en composition. Les images constitutives peuvent être calées sur une image de référence ou sur des images mises en composition intermédiaires, qui sont ensuite calées et mises en composition. Pour détecter les défauts de calage, on procède au calcul d'une métrique de similarité ou de dissimilarité pour une région donnée de cadres d'images en cours de calage, ou on utilise des lignes de références acquises en vue du calage des images.
PCT/EP1999/007474 1998-10-01 1999-09-30 Systeme d'imagerie de diagnostic par ultrasons a mise en composition spatiale a correction du flou Ceased WO2000020885A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (2)

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JP2000574950A JP2002526225A (ja) 1998-10-01 1999-09-30 ブレ補正された空間合成を行なう超音波診断撮像システム
EP99952524A EP1046062A1 (fr) 1998-10-01 1999-09-30 Systeme d'imagerie de diagnostic par ultrasons a mise en composition spatiale a correction du flou

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US10292398P 1998-10-01 1998-10-01
US60/102,923 1998-10-01
US09/335,059 1999-06-17
US09/335,059 US6283917B1 (en) 1998-10-01 1999-06-17 Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system with blurring corrected spatial compounding

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WO2000020885A1 true WO2000020885A1 (fr) 2000-04-13

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US (1) US6283917B1 (fr)
EP (1) EP1046062A1 (fr)
JP (1) JP2002526225A (fr)
WO (1) WO2000020885A1 (fr)

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US6554770B1 (en) 1998-11-20 2003-04-29 Acuson Corporation Medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging methods for extended field of view
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US8021301B2 (en) 2003-12-26 2011-09-20 Fujifilm Corporation Ultrasonic image processing apparatus, ultrasonic image processing method and ultrasonic image processing program
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